Holidaymaker Carolyne Larcombe said on Thursday that she had returned two of the distinctive sea snakes to the water while walking along Congo Beach near the small coastal town of Moruya, 304 km south of Sydney, Xinhua news agency reported.

“I thought they had a better chance of survival back in the water than up high and dry on the sand,” Larcombe said.

Herpetology researcher from the Australian Museum, Ross Sadlier, said the snakes were most likely either weak or just plain unlucky to washed south by ocean currants before falling victim to the recent rough seas and washed ashore.

Yellow-bellied sea snakes have been previously sighted along the New South Wales coastline with records dating back to the early 1900s of weak and injured individuals washing ashore during strong storms, Sadlier added.